Cool project. Does the new building connect to one of those pre-existing buildings in the background in the rendering? Or is this building a stand alone project?

The building adjacent to it along 5th St is The Bourse which is on the Historical Register. They tend to frown on anyone screwing with exterior walls. I don't think the Museum will be up flush against it; there was a small driveway and alley between The Bourse and the old KYW building before and it looks like that is staying. edit: It is actually Ludlow St.

As for the Museums' East side (along Market St), the building currently there is just a small office building. The KYW building was flush against it before and it has a blank wall for the lower six floors, so the Museum probably will flush to it too. It is hard to tell in the rendering but looking at the construction photos on the Flickr site, it appears that it will. edit: see my post below.

Tower crane is in the process of being erected...For those interested in vieweing the project web cam and seeing the progress throughout the weekend, log onto www.intechconstruction.com, click Current Projects, Construction, click on the Museum, and see the link at the bottom for the webcam....weather permitting, crane should be up by Sunday night...

In addition, FOX 29 is supposed to carry the story sometime this weekend, as this is the first tower crane to be erected under the new guidelines established recently. Philadelphia is setting the new standards and has received national attention for doing so...see Engineering News Record this week...

The tower crane is tentatively scheduled to be dismantled starting Friday night Jan.30th, and expected to be complete by sometime that Sunday. If you haven't witnessed this exercise in the past, you may want to be in the neighborhood that Saturday. Hopefully, all activities will be completed safely and in time for the workforce to be home to watch the Eagles win the Super Bowl...